Netherlands step up late to edge past Senegal

Although the score-line at the end of game reads 2-0, the Netherlands had left things late to earn a hard-fought victory against Senegal in the two Group A teams' World Cup opener at the Al-Thumama Stadium in Doha on Monday.

It was Cody Gakpo who broke the deadlock in the 84th minute with a splendid header to the top corner off a Frenkie De Jong assist. Afterwards, with Senegal chasing the equaliser, the Dutch capitalised to seal the victory on the counter with Davy Klaassen driving a rebound home deep into added time.

Despite the Dutch emerging as victorious, the African champions would feel hard done by since they had more shots on goal and more shots on target as well. 

Earlier, the first half ended goalless where the Dutch were left to rue missed chances. Gakpo opted to square the ball to Steven Bergwijn instead of taking a shot when he was in front of goal early in the game and De Jong took too many touches and wasted a good opportunity to score after Bergwijn had set him up.